


it's just business.

by HoneyDaisies



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Betrayal, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Dream Smp, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Swords, bro i am. i am so fucking sorry, i also haven't watched yesterdays (oct 8) stream so this is before i knew about. yknow., no respawning, traitor au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:15:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26913484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneyDaisies/pseuds/HoneyDaisies
Summary: There's a traitor amongst them. They can't help but know it's true. When one crosses sides, another must trade their place.It's all a matter of who.But don't take it personal, kid-- it's just business.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 81





	it's just business.

A bell noise echoes on the ravine walls. The stone sends the sound back at the boy beginning to shrug a grey jacket onto his shoulders, pulling out something from his back pocket. The cave is still as he reads. Others around him look his way, having gone quiet when the communicator had rung. He makes a scoffing noise. Shoving the communicator back into his pocket, he opens the chest beside him and begins storing his machine components.  
“Schlatt’s noticed I’m gone,” he says with a pout, glancing at one of the others above him, perched on a ravine ledge. “I’ve gotta go before he gets angry.” The man above nods his head of curly brown hair, dismissing the boy.  
“Go ahead, Tubbo. Stay safe.”   
“You too, Wilbur.”

Tubbo’s about to go clambering up the cobblestone steps when a heavy hand sets itself upon his back. With a glance over his shoulder, he meets Techno’s tired crimson eyes. The pig sends an awkward, but somewhat comforting, smile his way. “I’ll come with you,” Techno says, passing Tubbo and leading the way up the cavern stairs. “I’ve got to get more surface materials.” The red cloak trailing after him molds around each step and Tubbo finds himself watching the flow, hesitating before following Techno up to the top of the staircase. 

The sun is teetering towards the horizon when they emerge from their hideaway. They pause as Tubbo struggles to slip into his dress shoes, but soon enough, they’re making their way back towards the SMP. The sky envelops them in a magnificent orange light, draping them in warmth before the night is sure to drink it away. Crickets seem to be thrilled by their presence, singing their shrill songs to their audience of two. There’s a shuffling in the trees. A rummaging in the grass. The clouds above their heads are painted gold by the sun’s faltering glow, blinding in the sky as they perform their most triumphant visuals yet. Of course, they’ll forget come the moon, and they will begin the whole charade again once morning breaks. The grass crumples beneath Techno’s hooves, and Tubbo is pattering after him, slipping slightly in the dusk dew.

“What has Schlatt asked you for?” Techno grumbles out in his signature monotone. He stops, looking back at Tubbo, and he waits for the boy to catch up before they start walking again. Techno always walks a little too fast.

“I don’t know,” is the reply. Tubbo is fidgeting with the grey tie he wears; he pulls it off, reties it, and off it goes again. A hand is set on his shoulder. The tie is taken from him and Techno pops his collar, draping the tie around Tubbo’s neck and busying himself by looping it into a knot. Tubbo continues, “he sent me to do a task but I came to finish the machine instead.”

“What was the task?”

“I had to build the next floor for the office building.”

“Isn’t that a very noticeable thing to have skipped out on.”

“Well, yeah,” Tubbo shrugs, watching Techno fumble with his tie. “I can make up an excuse, though.”

“Give me your excuse.”

“Right now?”

“Yes.”

Techno folds down the green collar of Tubbo’s shirt, fixing the position of the knot, and straightens out the shoulders of Tubbo’s grey blazer. He mutters a _“Thank you,”_ teetering from foot to foot before clearing his throat. “I could.. Say I was on a supply run.”

“Oh yeah?” Techno turns away, continuing his pace towards the SMP. The forest shuffles around them, making room. “Where are your supplies? Were you not given supplies when you were assigned the task? Why did you go so far out?” Tubbo groans. Techno chuckles softly when he watches Tubbo cover his face with his hands.

“Then I can… Say I was looking for Pogtopia?”

“When you were supposed to be building?”

Again, Tubbo groans. He picks up his speed a little bit, spinning to start walking backwards, facing Techno. Ahead, they can see the top of Eret’s tower piercing the treeline, and the sound of the ocean is close. Tubbo extends his arms out. “What would you say!” He asks, mildly frustrated. Techno sends him a look, and bares his tusks in amusement. His arms fold behind his back.

“Say you _were_ building,” he begins, staring out ahead of them. His red eyes flicker in recognition for a moment, but before Tubbo can ask, he keeps talking, “but simply got distracted by something. Who cares what. Grab the materials you need before you go and see Schlatt to make it look like you were actually working.”

“That’s smart…” Tubbo mumbles, returning to walk at Techno’s side again.

The SMP is starting to unfold past the towering spruce trees. They can see the buildings from here, and now there’s only a short clearing separating them. The forest has begun making noise again. Needles of the trees clatter together, their branches swaying haphazardly in the wind. Grass scratches at Tubbo’s legs. The green blades claw at the cuffs of his pants, begging him to stay, to not go out there where it isn’t safe. Two sets of footsteps turn into one when Tubbo stops. The trees stare down at them, and the newly-emerged stars cast their gazes upon him in judgement. Why has he stopped, they ask each other. Techno asks himself the same question, when he stops as well, just past the breaking treeline. Red fabric pools around his feet like a puddle. Tubbo is fidgeting with his tie again.

“I don’t know, Techno,” Tubbo says, eyes locked on the new Manburg flag in the distance. “I don’t feel safe there.”

“Nowhere’s safe, Tubbo.” Not quite the answer he wants, but it’s the answer he gets. He lets go of his tie, and takes a step forward. Something snaps behind him, and he’s whirling around, barreling into Techno. Hands on his arms steady him, and Tubbo stares in fear as his boss steps out from behind a spruce tree. The president gives the pair a wicked grin.

“Well,” Schlatt croons. “What’re we doing all the way out here?”

“Schlatt!” Tubbo manages to stammer, springing away from Techno and giving his president a salute. He puts on a wavering smile as if he’s not scared to death. Schlatt’s unnerving expression doesn’t falter as he steps out into the open. His ivory horns frame his face like a photograph. Frame his face like a murder.  
“Tubbo!” Schlatt returns the enthusiasm, face lighting up for a split second. The moonlight falls upon him in uneven dices that the trees cut. His arms are folded behind his back and he looks as confident as ever. He looks as confident as he always is. Schlatt’s golden eyes move from Tubbo to Techno, and the president squints. The grin finally falls. “Technoblade. Funny seeing you around here.” Techno hums.

“I was just dropping him off.”

“Were you?”

“Yeah!” Tubbo jumps in, his saluting arm finally returning to his side. “Yeah, yeah, we ran into each other and he was walking me back to L’-- Manburg! To Manburg!”

“To Manburg, eh…?” Schlatt parrots slowly. He ducks his gaze to the grass as he walks closer, only looking back up when he stops again, in front of Tubbo, and staring him in the eyes. The coins of irises he has glimmer with mischief, and the boy freezes.

“Can you be honest with me, Tubbo.”

A demand, rather than a question. Tubbo swallows harshly.

“Of course, Mr. President.”

Schlatt leans down to Tubbo’s height, and Tubbo tenses when he’s face to face. The dagger-like horns are so close he thinks that, if Schlatt were to shift ever so slightly forward, he’d be stabbed. Golden eyes are quizzical. They burn into Tubbo as they assess even the smallest uncomfortable twitch of his face, carving judgement and shame into his frown. Techno has taken a small step back. Tubbo had forgotten how lonely it feels being, well.. alone. Even the forest seems to turn it’s back on the boy, turning a blind eye to the scalding silence. Leaning the slightest bit forward, Schlatt bares a pointed canine as he sneers into Tubbo’s ear,  
  


_"Where were you, Tubbo?”_

_  
_ Tubbo wants to step back. He wants to _bolt_. But fear freezes his feet to the ground and he can only tense until his muscles begin to ache. Schlatt has leaned back to meet his eyes again. Tubbo stays silent. He has been caught, and they all know it. Sharp teeth are exposed when the president cracks a sickening smile. Schlatt stands upright and steps back. Tubbo remains still, almost fearing that, if he moved, then would his head be bitten clean off.

“I see how it is,” Schlatt mumbles, crossing his arms behind his back. Tubbo musters the courage to look back up at him, and his unsettling smile has turned into a chilling straight face that screamed nothing but _disappointment._ Hooded gold eyes stared down at him, and burned into him in a way that felt worse somehow. Tubbo digs his nails into his palm. His head snaps down to stare at the grass, dodging eye contact once again. He hated the feeling; he hated the look. He could never bear it, and he couldn’t bear it now.

That look… seemed to follow him wherever he went. It watched him leave home to find a new life, somewhere far away from there. He saw it when it pushed a button and releashed the demise of their nation. He saw it in the former president, the former vice president, he saw it here. And each time, he hung his head, and tried to avoid it. This time, however, he’s caged. 

Schlatt huffs out a shaming sigh when he turns his eyes away from his shaking right hand man and looks to Techno, who still lingers behind Tubbo. As always, there’s a neutral expression carved into his piggish features, and his red eyes are already staring when Schlatt meets his gaze. Silence hangs over the forest. In the distance ahead, the Manburg flag wavers in the uneasy wind, and somewhere behind them, Wilbur and Tommy are still mining, completely unaware. The clouds cover the moon’s eyes and the stars weep at the sight of the malicious grin that Schlatt sends the warrior.

“Techno,” Schlatt says sweetly with the tilt of his head and a smile. “Do you remember what we talked about?” Tubbo lifts his head, staring wide-eyed at the president, but he’s completely lost his attention. Behind him, Techno raises his chin and hums.

“I do.”

Schlatt laughs through his nose before his smile drops to a dead expression. He waves a commanding gesture of his hand.

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Behind him, there’s a sharp metallic noise and Tubbo barely has time to react when something shreds through the back of his grey blazer, and pierces right through. He shakes, eyes locked on Schlatt’s face. Finally, Schlatt returns his brutal golden stare to Tubbo. Once again, silence swallows them up like a monster, and on the border teetering between Manburg and the wilderness, the right hand man collapses to his knees. The grass shifts to make room for him as he falls. The sword slips from his back and Techno sheathes the blade, unbothered. He looks to Schlatt, and they are wordless as the president plants a sack of gold in his open hand. Techno maneuvers around Tubbo, the wave of his red cloak fading off into the taiga dark.

His chest burns. Tubbo presses one hand to the sputtering wound, the other planted in the grass, keeping him upright. Schlatt steps to the side as Tubbo coughs, hacking up something dark and spitting it into the grass, heaving. His head spins.

“Eugh,” is all Schlatt musters, raising a boot to shove into Tubbo’s side and knock him over. The boy winces as he lands on his back. It’s so easy to knock him breathless now, he can’t help but notice. There’s a growing stain on his green shirt, he can’t help but know. A metallic taste fills his mouth like an infection, a bitter plague that tastes of iron and betrayal. More so than the crime that he had committed.

“Schlatt--” Tubbo chokes out, doing his best to roll onto his side and trace the figure that walks away from him, towards Manburg. In his hazy vision he spots Schlatt stop, and turn back to stare down at him. Those golden eyes scream _pity._ The president’s secretary begs, “Schlatt, _please_.”

“Don’t take it personal, kid,” Schlatt says with a frown that almost feels gut-wrenchingly genuine. “It’s just business.”

There is rustling in the wood. A red cloak skips through the grass as boots cross the field and lead the way into the forest, a long brown coat with a black shawl following eagerly behind. The two talk quietly as they break into the treeline. Within their arms, baskets of gifts and resources for the rebellion. The burning glow of the fresh morning sun bathes the forest in it’s brilliant colours as the sky blushes in furious pastels. Golden clouds hang above them. Evidently, the sky had forgotten come the moon, and once again, sunrise launches into a new dazzling performance. Their conversation is getting closer, but all at once, it stops with a blood curdling shriek. 

The basket, carrying precious materials, falls. Its contents scatter in the grass. The cloak sinks to the ground around the boy, and the king is weeping at the sight of him. They press their fingertips to his neck, and set the back of their hand against his cold cheek. The woman beside them has her hands clasped over her mouth, stifling gasps and sobs as she slowly creeps up to stand over the king and their brother. Eret frantically mutters to themself.

_“No.. No, no, no, this can’t be. Who would do such a thing? This is impossible, this is--”_

Eret is gentle as they pull Tubbo into a one-sided hug, setting their forehead against his limp shoulder. Blood, now gone cold, stains their white undershirt. Their body quakes as they sob. Niki sets her basket down and with tears in her voice reassures Eret, saying she’s going to get help as she rushes into the trees and in the direction of the rebellion base. Towards Wilbur, Tommy, Techno. But they already know that there is no helping. Grief pierces them through the chest like a dashing sword, and something wells within their lungs that claws and begs to be released in a fearsome scream that will echo along the caverns, shake the trees, move the oceans. The clearing sways as the brothers are still. The forest shields the two of them from the sunlight with their leaves, for a mourning brother should have their privacy.

Knowing that they are truly alone-- a feeling Eret knows all too well-- they wail. 


End file.
